TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS

TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS

The afternoon has now slowly turning into evening.  A great and joyous picnic has just ended. The sun will shortly go down over the Hajjar mountain range. John Denver’s vibrant voice in ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ is playing on my Mazda station wagon’s cassette tape-recorder. A huge hit for John Denver, singing ‘Country Road’ was not missed out any party, dance, picnic or get-together. Heading north by north-west from Fujeirah towards Sharjah, it will be a long drive ahead and our mini-convoy of cars will shortly disappear into the sunset over Masafi, as we hope to safely make it home, before eight o’clock - lest we forget, it is still Friday – as we simply cannot afford to miss out on one of the greatest and longest series of the time that delighted us all, and that’s none other ‘Dallas’ and the conniving ways of JR!

Circa 1980.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN86d0CdgHQ

MALAIKA - Life in the Emirates

When everyone sang 'Malaika'

'Dubai Creek 1970'

Oil painting by Tony Fernandes

Size 3ft x 2ft

View of Bur Dubai across the Creek from Ras Deira
Dubai - United Arab Emirates

MALAIKA

Grand New Year’s Eve Ball, Intercon Dubai. Circa 1976. After a short break, the dance band on stage strikes up a few distinct initial bars of a familiar song. It is quite evident what the song choice has been. It is a slow piece. Couples rise and gently walk to the floor and begin dancing as the lights dim. The band’s crooner sings the song – none other than the famous Kenyan singer/composer Fadhili William’s  famous Swahili song ‘Malaika’ popularized by Miriam Makeba, Harry Belafonte, Boney M and Sal Davis. The couples on the dance floor appear to lip-sync “Malaika, nakupenda Malaika…Nashindwa na mali sina we…”.

Everybody seemed to know the lyrics even if they did not speak Swahili! Wow! All I knew was the meaning of the song 'Malaika' which means 'Angel'. I remember watching an English version sung by Sal Davis from Kenya on Dubai TV. He also sang "Back in Dubai' when he visited Dubai.

No dance gala was ever complete then, nor is complete even now without ‘Malaika’ at any Goan function held across the world. A great song indeed and a beautiful catchy tune.

Please click on the link below to listen to a beautiful rendition in a duet arrangement by Harry Belafonte and Miriam Makeba. Malaika is a Swahili song written by Tanzanian musician Adam Salim in 1945. This song is possibly the most famous of all Swahili love songs in Tanzania, Kenya and the entire East Africa, as well as being one of the most widely known of all Swahili songs in the world. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jxALtWGVQ

THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND!

DUBAI CREEK

1967

Line Artwork Drawing

by Tony Fernandes 

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Before the days of FM Radio Transmission in the UAE, the pionering expatriate folks who worked and lived there relied on western music reception from the ARAMCO oilfields base in Saudi Arabia. The definitive 3 FM radio stations were Light Music on 100, Classical on 96 and Popular on 88 MHz. The only other radio program that broadcast on FM radio was station in Sharjah which began in the early 1970's after the British Royal Air Force Base closed down its programs of western music on Medium Wave radio.

One of my favourite hit songs of that era was 'Those were the days' sung by Welsh singer Mary Hopkin which was aired on a regular basis by these radio stations of another era. As I reminisce today those were the days indeed. Please click on the link below to listen to a fabulous song of those days. Those days, which were the days then, are the days even now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KODZtjOIPg

GENTLEMAN JIM

In the 1960's and 1970's, many people in the Indian Sub-continent owned gadgets what were known as 'Radiograms' that played LP Records, 78's and 45's in addition to receiving radio programs on Short Wave and Medium Wave Radio. Walk into any well-to-do Goan home in Bombay, from Colaba to Bandra, Byculla to Dhobitalo, or Mahim to Worli, you would invariably hear Jim Reeves playing in their home. Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck or Billy Vaughn and Bill Black Combo were also popular among many record collections of those days.

Incidentally, the radiogram was considered a luxury by any standard, and consisted as a piece of high-class furniture in many well-appointed living rooms of homes and music salons of that era.

In Goa, during the Portuguese regime, in the 1950's and 1960's the radiograms were less common, perhaps an entire village having just one or two of these prized possessions and other top-notch luxuries of that time. Just owning a radiogram was not enough. This sort of enjoyment was expensive and came with an extra price tag, as one had to keep up with the times by adding and collecting more LP's that were costly. 

Although during the time when I lived and worked in Dubai in late 1960's and 1970's, Jim Reeves' records, being an RCA label, were then not available in the Trucial States of Oman (now U.A.E.), folks who travelled to India on their annual vacation, often purchased them there. Jim Reeves' LPs were pressed in Dum Dum, India. Jim Reeves' Christmas Carols Album was very popular then, and is popular even now. 

Please relax and listen to this great number by Gentleman Jim, one among his other great hits, "He'll have to go" that he was famous for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smlaq1ezQRM

LIFE IN THE EMIRATES - HALA MARHABA

'LIFE IN THE EMIRATES'

A popular song in the expatriate community, 'Life in the Emirates', is a warm tribute to life in the United Arab Emirates. The song was written and recorded in 1979 by two Irish men Patrick Terence Brady and Michael Kiely. It proved to be an instant hit. It was provided airplay by Capitol Radio in Abu Dhabi and by FM 92 Radio in Dubai.

It has been sung in numerous hotels and other events throughout the U.A.E. It is the most famous song in English about the UAE, and it still strikes a sentimental chord even after the first batch of adventurers have left the country on completion  of their tenure.

I still have fond and cherished memories of this song along with the wonderful and memorable years that I spent in this great country. The song is still played by music groups who originally made their debut in Dubai at the time, and who perhaps share similar sentiments in their hearts.

"LIFE IN THE EMIRATES" is a sincere yet light-hearted song of praise to the wonderful country - the United Arab Emirates. The words speak for themselves.

Please click on the link below to watch the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjYGl3coO6g